Thèse en cours : 3 Essays on SMEs’ access to finance in Morocco: Challenges, Government Policies and Opportunities. 

Université Paris Dauphine
Sous la direction de Najat EL MEKKAOUI (Université Paris Dauphine) et Said HANCHANE (UM6P)
Date d’inscription : Octobre 2023

Women SMEs account for more than 90% of businesses and occupy more than 50% of employment worldwide (World Bank, 2022). MSMEs can drive innovation, boost productivity, and promote economic diversification (Hall, Lotti & Mairesse ,2009). However, access to finance remains a key constraint hindering MSMEs resilience and growth (Beck & Demirguc-Kunt, 2006). Overall, our research seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the SME financing gap in Morocco and the potential solutions to address this critical issue. In chapter 1, we demonstrate that the scope of the problem of SMEs access to finance is not quantitatively well documented in public statistics. The current statistics show only the supply side figures of SMEs that applied for a bank loan and were successful at getting one. Alternatively, we compute SME financing gap that takes into considerations SMEs that got rejected from getting a bank loan or SMEs that did not even apply for a bank loan because they were discouraged by collateral criteria. In chapter 2, we analyse the determinants of access to finance using a multilevel approach where we make the difference between: firm-level factors (size, sector, age, female ownership, website ownership and public contract ownership), and regional-level factors (number of commercial banks, Human Development Index, Informal employment, and public investment). This chapter brings insights in terms of policy recommendations: reducing regional disparities and providing suitable financial solutions to enhance SMEs financial inclusion. This leads us to the third chapter where we conduct an impact evaluation of the credit guarantee scheme (Damane) on company sustainability, turnover, added value, productivity, investment, and employment. We proceed by a difference-in- difference method combined by propensensity score matching. This Impact evaluation is important because it provides accountability and justification for public choice. 

The thesis chapters are the following:
1.    The issue of supply and demand mismatch in credit market; assessing the SME financing gap in Morocco.
2.    The determinants of access to finance for Moroccan firms: a regional approach.
3.    Financing SMEs in Morocco: What Role for Credit Guarantee Schemes?

Key words: Financial Inclusion, Financing Gap, Credit Guarantees, SME.